I know we don’t live in Canada or anything – but this felt pretty nice tonight as I was heading to bed…..
Sorry, not too good at this regular update thing June 26, 2008
Well this house is failing at doing our blogs regularly, so I can now offer a brief update. I’ve been out in the garden (allotment) tonight so I feel quite in touch. Over the previous months we’ve had major failures (carrots almost totally failed for 2 crops, but now have a third set seeming quite strong) and some major successes (peas are now producing beautiful crops!). The greenhouse re-site has worked well and is a tropical jungle of tomato plants and peppers (2 cherry tomatoes).
The chickens are all still alive (!) and we’ve had a fairly regular 3 or 4 eggs a day. They are so lovely, and so social – although I’m a bit worried that they are so friendly when I do see them cos they’re a bit socially deprived. Usual kids thing of slightly losing interest in pets after a while….
We now have cows in the field to the right, and sheep/lambs to the left. Horses still in front of the house.
The house and garden sound idyllic and in many ways they are, but we do suffer on other wavelengths – like no easy walking routes for prams / toddlers etc so ultimatly house/garden bound or car-dependant, no pubs easily visitable so limited adult time out, no close friends/neighbours so again no adult time out but also limited visitors and no-people-dropping-in. I’m sure others in smallholdings might also feel these kind of things – especially where people have moved to it. But then a lot of people who have done that seem to be older and child-less so it’s a different experience/set of issues.
I remain positive, connected, learning and at home. Just want to solve some other non-garden connection areas in our life.
We did have a very good party (nigey-fest) a few weeks ago and it seemed to work quite well. Good bonfire, bbq, lots of drink and cocktails, decks/music/guitar in the garden til late/dark and all ages seemed to enjoy it. I just need to sort out a way of actually enjoying my own parties rather than running around hectic trying to make everything work!!
Will get some pics soon!
It’s a free(cycle) world….. June 2, 2008
Wow, freecycle is pretty good – or at least the mentality behind it. See the widget down to the right of the page for what we’ve had free. I can’t believe people actually pay for stuff. Especially things like sheds and greenhouses. Ok, effort involved if you’re an old lady or something or if you’re really poncey and need a brand new swanky thing….. but come on….
So this now procured:
(shown in it’s previous owners garden)
….. with a bit of effort to re-construct it with a bit of patching up to do but not too much.. mostly due to:
….. the immense amount of fun it is dismantling this kind of thing. For a start it’s honest hard work, but so satisfactory as it’s quite quick to achieve something (as opposed to building something over weeks/months/years – like my friends doing their flat/homes that is taken them ages and ages so the benefit so long awaited and painful during the wait). I ripped down the chicken coop last year, and this was similar. So a few injured pieces of timber and a snapped hammer (!) but a few scrapped knuckles but lots of fun.
I commented at home too, that this whole new life since we moved here is finally making start to feel 1) useful beyond my IT techie career and 2) quite blokeish (as never previously been in a fight or had a ‘proper’ job!
I highly recommend both free stuff and trashing things.
BTW – shed is intended to be a chicken house at the bottom of the garden – target date 15 September 2008.
I am Jamie Oliver… (maybe a bit less annoying?) May 9, 2008
If you look at the similarities:
- I recently cooked home made pizza at a party for my lad mates
- I have a preference for Sainsburys (although can’t afford it week to week)
- I have chickens at home and strongly support free-range ethics/culture
- I am enthusastic and active in growing my own veg and cooking with flavour
- I have a top totty wife and lovely daughters with nice names
- I’m bit of a southerner and can speak a bit cockney (my son)
Strange eh? TV show and loada money please!
further chicken thoughts April 12, 2008
[Nige blogging logged in as barbara!]
Quite funny thinking about these chooks that are snoozing down the garden. It’s a bit like when we we brought home the now toddler from hospital after she was born – the traditional feeling of ‘wow, we’re taking this think home with no support really there, all up to us….’.
Well with the chooks it feels wierd to be allowed to be responsible for their welfare, life, happiness etc. I want to keep going down there to check them but her indoors says that a bit over the top. I went at dusk cos I wanted to catch them asleep – and they were – brilliantly sleeping on the perch. wot an amazing feat of science. I would like to find out if it’s perfect balance/center of gravity or whether they are awake enough to grip on continously?? Answers by comment please.
The family joked about the fact that we have even more girls in the house now for me, but I do feel a fantastic fatherly vibe for the chooks – they won’t leave the washing up undone, or strop about my comments of how messy they room is!!
Right, off to wee around the hen-house now (desperate to at least get one night without a fox attack on them!)
Sexy earth…. a new creation…. and we’re ready to go March 10, 2008
So main news- i have a new creation that I am so pleased and proud of that it nearly made me cry. I finished the potatoe plot last night!! It looks a lot bigger in real life, but I got one photo of it last night. Good old deep digging and removal of lots of bits of tough sandstone and slate tiles! Ready to go now though for the earlies which if this storm gives up will go in this week. Just need to confirm how many we can get in overall and hope that it’s deep enough (between 1 and 2 ft I reckon).
Dear wife indoors also had taken some work in progress pics to show what I was battling with.
Also, I managed to get delivery of a new gardening tool to help over the next few years. Obviously I was also very pleased with this new arrival, and hope to put it to use at the most suitable earliest opportunity. She might have other ideas…..
seasonal depression disorder…. January 30, 2008
I have decided that I have a form of seasonal depression as after such a productive weekend I am unable to get out and do anything after work in the evenings and it makes me sad :< I miss my soil and wheelbarrow and hammer/screwdriver while I am work being an IT bod. pah. Maybe I can see the call of downsizing and moving to a self sufficiency life….. :>
For now, I will look forward to the weekend (although q busy this sat/sun) . We have now been offered a Shed so assuming I can dismantle and transport ok – should have one back at the weekend and up sometime in the coming weeks – chickens or storage TBD!
tired thoughts November 11, 2007
I’m hot. really quite hot. generally but then also temperature wise. But I’m comfy. Tired but comfy. I have my fire on in my cottage and it’s really rather nice. I’ve done lots of jobs today – mainly manly and dad-like stuff like drilling and rolling down hills/tickling. Then I lit a fire and burnt lots of stuff. And cooked and ate meat. real meat with blood n stuff. yum yum.
We went to a bonfire night last night which was good and it reminded me how much I like fire. lots of people go through a pyro phase which I defintly did. For those who know him – Wardi – and I used to burn massive massive piles of branches in the local woods where they had been logging. Then we started burning other stuff including accidentally setting light to a hay barn (not full). Sorry if you just saw that mum. It was all ok.
The sky this afternoon was very nice. Blues, oranges, white and grey clouds, bright and cold etc. Then I could see smoke coming from our chimney from afar. Have been sat next to the fire for most of the time since. baby daughter liked it although she’s still convinced it’s fireworks although I explained – many “flames” in the “fire”. like a “bonfire” that we saw at the “fireworks”. complex.
Just the way something keeps itself burning with this oxygen ingrediant as it dissappears, very strange really. bit like our cells I suppose (the ones that get used up to transform into somehting else or die or somat.) Like thoughts that are running through your head and are whipping up into something but ultimatly disappear to leave their ash in minimal quantities.
I think particularly with today being rememberence sunday with me having looked at the first world war a lot over the last 6 months. To be poignant in it’s context is good and to think about death and trauma and humilty and humanity and sacrifice and loss and bravery and nature. We will remember them I think is a good statement and I hope to ensure my kids do so (they didn’t much today but they did like Blackadder series 4 so that counts)
Freecycling success and brag….. October 2, 2007
In the prev post, we cleared the strips which included taking out some of the marigolds that had bloomed so well and continued to look and smell fantastic. Actually what we did was to re-plant some to firm up each end of the first ’strip’ as we thought it might be quite a nice boundary.
but the process rendered about 10 plants – 5 or 6 really bushy sets now homeless and up-rooted. Dear lady partner was quite callous saying to just leave them. But after considering it for about 20 mins I decided it was a waste of beauty and greenish-nigey-ness and decided to pot the best 5 up. You can see them to the right of the pic in the prev post.
>> One went to a local friend
>> One went to a visiting couple of my uni friends that I bored about my greenish-antics-talk.
>> Three went at the end of the drive on the road with a sign saying ‘FREE’ french marigolds, help yourself. Two went within 10 mins and the final one went within the hour!!! It was amazingly fast and I felt/feel great about it. I hope my anonymous benefactors/benficiaries? are fairing well with them.
Dare I say I should have asked for a couple of quid donation….???? Well maybe not, we have done well out of freecycle.
some really cool wildlife September 10, 2007
Whilst clearing my car port/garage thing, I noticed a toy lizard and then that it wasn’t a toy. Some googling seemed to reveal that it is in fact a female great crested newt (as we understood there to be here in our cellar/pond type areas).
So to help it, but apparently interfering with a protected species I moved the little lizard lady to near the pond away from the car port. Interesting that she was there – hope not moved her from a nest or someting? ah well. she’d have got squished there anyway and was lucky that she didn’t.
